There’s a bookcase of fresh art supplies and a couple of squirmy 2-year-olds crawling through the pop-up tunnel in one of Purpose of Life Academy’s toddler rooms. Upstairs, there’s new musical instruments and a carpet to stretch out on during reading time.
The learning tools are all made possible thanks to Early Learning Indiana’s Elevate Learning Project. It’s one of the many places child care providers like Ashley Greene-Hogue are finding support amid what providers call a growing funding crisis in Indiana.
“No matter what’s happening in the world,” Greene-Hogue said, “we’re committed to providing quality care.”
Indiana’s Family and Social Services Administration slashed funding for its child care voucher program this year — a vital lifeline for parents and the providers who serve high numbers of children from low-income families. State officials say they had to quickly scale back child care support after demand for vouchers increased and federal pandemic relief funds used to grow the program came to an end.
The decision hit child care providers who rely on voucher funding hard. More than 50 centers across the state have closed since the summer, according to the Indiana Association for the Education of Young Children, and some support organizations are now changing their focus after losing key funding from the state.
Providers told Mirror Indy the changes have created a vacuum for strong professional development opportunities and have shifted the burden of support onto community organizations and neighborhood groups.
Some groups are focusing on support for providers while others, like Fletcher Place Community Center, are working directly with families burdened by the rising cost of child care.
About half of the families in the center’s REACH Early Learning program use vouchers. The southeastside community center offers its own scholarships to bridge gaps. It has also organized community carpools and provided bus passes to help families overcome transportation barriers.
Even still, enrollment is down about 20% this year, Executive Director Melissa Drew said.
“We’re doing all we can,” Drew said.
Child Care Answers shifts focus
Child Care Answers was one group hit especially hard by changes this year.
In June, the state canceled its contract with the Indianapolis-based referral provider which was used by local employers and families to find child care that fit their needs. The nonprofit also answered questions from early learning educators and connected them to training opportunities.
Without their contract, Child Care Answers immediately had to scale back. The nonprofit cut 11 staff members and moved into a new office further north on Meridian Street.
The state is now fielding questions from providers through a new in-house service. Officials say they anticipate the change will save $45 million over the next two years. But several providers told Mirror Indy they’ve been disappointed by dwindling professional development opportunities as the state rolls back its spending.
Though smaller now, Child Care Answers has refocused its efforts through two grant programs: Strengthen Indy Child Care Grant and the Central Indiana Child Care Alliance.
Supported this year by Glick Philanthropies, the Strengthen Indy Child Care Grant program provided grants of $10,000 to $50,000 to 10 Indianapolis providers looking to make structural changes within their centers. Some providers, for example, converted unused rooms to classroom space. Others constructed walls to divide up large rooms and serve more children.
The nonprofit is also piloting its next idea: the Central Indiana Child Care Alliance. Supported by United Way of Central Indiana, the alliance gives small, home-based providers access to financial expertise to help with things like budgeting and tax prep that might fall outside of their knowledge base as educators.
“Our focus right now is on family child care (providers) because they’re the ones who have on every hat possible,” Child Care Answers Executive Director Mollie Smith said.
Nonprofits step up to fill gaps
Meanwhile, community centers and existing nonprofits are also stepping in to fill gaps.
The Elevate Learning Project is working with more than 200 providers across the state to provide free materials and professional development to early childhood educators.
Educators take what they learn back to their centers to evaluate classrooms and look for areas where new materials could help improve their children’s learning. The educators are then provided with a selection of classroom kits to shop from at no cost to their center.
Greene-Hogue, the director of Purpose of Life Academy on the city’s northwest side, said she’s been lucky. Enrollment at her ministry-based child care center has been steady this year, but she’s still cautious about spending extra money. The director said she’s routinely applying to grants and looking for ways to grow in her craft.
“I always tell my staff,” Greene-Hogue said, “if we’re not pouring into ourselves and educating ourselves, we can’t educate the babies.”
The project started earlier this year, Early Learning Indiana CEO Erin Kissling said, but took on greater importance this fall as the state announced it would scale back the voucher reimbursement rates.
“Already programs were sort of giving us a sign that they might need some additional help,” Kissling said, “so we used the opportunity to think about this with both of those veins: How do we keep the focus on quality but also provide some operational budget relief for programs as well?”
‘Leveling up’ on the east side
The Edna Martin Christian Center supported 20 providers with applications to the Elevate Learning Project. The center also convened a group of eight Martindale Brightwood-area providers to participate in a separate program offered in partnership with Ivy Tech Community College.
The Learn, Early, Achieve Project, or LEAP, pays tuition for the small, home-based providers as they pursue a Child Development Associate credential. It also offers scholarships to 30 children attending the Martindale Brightwood centers.
The program seeks to bring stability to the small businesses by ensuring students consistently stay enrolled. The added educational component can bring long-term benefits as providers seek higher levels of certifications for their center, a key factor in determining state funding.
“Leveling up helps them get more reimbursement and … you may be able to tap into more grants that might be out there in the community,” said Angielena Williams, Edna Martin’s director of early childhood special initiatives. “It signifies to parents that you are trying your best for their child.”
In addition to supporting other eastside providers, Edna Martin runs its own child care ministry. That means staff are well aware of the financial strain small centers are feeling.
The Edna Martin ministry is only at about 60% of its capacity this year. The center recently moved to a sliding scale tuition model, where families pay different rates based on their household income.
Jamie Scott-Massie, Edna Martin’s senior director of community family initiatives, said the child care ministry’s relationship with the greater community center has helped weather losses in the short term.
“As we kind of started seeing the potential changes coming down, it really amplified our work,” Scott-Massie said. “It helped us prioritize expanding.”
Reaching families directly
Some of those growing services include direct support for families.
In the Parents as Teachers program, Edna Martin community educators meet expectant mothers and parents of young children in their homes. The educators provide developmental screenings and connect parents to community resources, such as local diaper banks and the federal supplemental nutrition program for women, infants and children, known as WIC.
The educators also bring age-appropriate activities for the children to participate in during visits. And families are invited to monthly group events at the Edna Martin Christian Center to meet other participants and share parenting advice.
For Kimmea Jackson-White — mom to a 1-year-old, a 4-year-old and an 8-year-old — the program has brought the extra support she says she needs to better understand her children’s needs and advocate on their behalf.
She already has child care support from her cousin who runs a daycare she trusts. Parents as Teachers, however, has given the eastside mom the extra support she’s needed to navigate an individualized education plan with her oldest daughter’s school and to find a physical therapist to work with her youngest daughter as she learns to walk.
“It takes a village,” Jackson-White said, “and once you have a village, you can actually see yourself and your baby progressing.”
Are you a parent or family currently searching for child care in Indianapolis? Mirror Indy wants to learn more about your experience. Contact reporter Carley Lanich at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Carley Lanich covers early childhood and K-12 education. Contact her at carley.lanich@mirrorindy.org or follow her on X @carleylanich.
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